Does your company’s health insurance plan include health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) or flexible spending accounts (FSAs)? If so, you should know these plan components are both subject to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its “market reform” provisions. The Department of Labor and other principal agencies have issued another round of guidance to answer some of the frequently asked questions about health care reform, including questions about the use of HRAs and FSAs.

According to the new guidance, HRAs and FSAs are covered by the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on annual benefit limits and are required to provide the same set of preventive health benefits as any other compliant health plan. The sticking point comes when you try to bolt HRA or FSA accounts onto an “individual market” policy. This cannot be done.